March 28 marked the last day that the International Center for Ethics, Justice, and Public Life held an open dialogue online through EthicsTalk. The online discussion was a continuation of a symposium held on March 14, titled "Religion and the Quest to Control Violence" with novelist James Carroll and Prof. Bernadette Brooten (NEJS). Through the website, attendees and the speakers themselves were encouraged to engage in discourse regarding religion and violence.Carroll, a writer for the Boston Globe, has written 17 books. His most recent, Jerusalem, Jerusalem: How the Ancient City Ignited Our Modern World, was the subject for the event and was used as the starting point for the ethical discussion, according to a press release from the Center. Brooten joined Carroll at the original symposium and throughout the online discussion.

The EthicsTalk website allows participants to engage in direct dialogue with each other regarding the issues at hand. Participants discussed Carroll's book in addition to religion's role in preventing violence. The website also allowed people to track how their opinions changed throughout the dialogue. On the discussion page, the Center describes the forum as "a place for the Brandeis community and beyond to explore some of the most vexing questions of our time in the areas of peacebuilding and the arts, international justice and human rights, and ethics and public life."

Participants were able to discuss the various questions in an open forum through seven discussion topics. The questions addressed religion's role in violent conflict. The questions included "Religion or nationalism: which poses a greater threat to peace?" and "Does religion have a place in eliminating violence? If so, how? What is our role?" The participants were able to discuss these questions and five others directly with James Carroll and each other.

In an interview with the Justice, David Weinstein, a staff member of the Center, said that participants in the online discussion were primarily Brandeis students, faculty, staff and a few representatives from the Brandeis Interfaith Group. According to the forum website, there were participants from places as far away as Nepal, Pakistan, Ukraine and Egypt.

The International Center for Ethics, Justice and Public Life is located in the Abraham Shapiro Academic Complex. The Center says on its website that its mission is to develop effective responses to conflict and injustice by offering innovative approaches to coexistence, strengthening the work of international courts, and encouraging ethical practice in civic and professional life.

According to Weinstein, the Center has posted another question for discussion through EthicsTalk: "How should the arts at Brandeis be linked to social justice? (Or should they?)" This question is connected to an upcoming screening of a new documentary called Acting Together on the World Stage at the Shapiro Campus Center on April 12.